One Last Night of Comfort
by Sunshine After the Rain
Summary: Set after Judgment Day parts 1 and 2 . What happened between Tony and Ziva that made things so awkward for them in season 6? This is my interpretation of just what happened. Tiva Spoilers for anything before Season 6.


A/N: So I have been spent about the past semester of my life writing watching all the NCIS episodes. I just got to this past seasons finale, and then I got struck by a plot bunny. I know that this season, Tony and Ziva have some awkwardness between them as if something had happened before they had left, as if they had unfinished business. This is my interpretation of what happened. Some of this may be a little OOC, but I tried to keep both Tony and Ziva in character as much as possible

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own NCIS (The agency or the TV show). I am being a fangirl and writing an angsty Tiva piece.

Ziva felt numb as she started trying to pack her things, almost her whole life into boxes. She supposed that no one expected her to feel any emotion due to her normally stoic outer appearance. Unfortunately, she wasn't as hard on the inside as she appeared. Assistant Director, no, Director Vance had given her and the team news that her position as Mossad liaison had been terminated. Tony was to be shipped out to sea on the Ronald Regan as its onboard agent. McGee had it best; at least he was able to stay near home even if he was assigned to the cyber crimes unit. And Gibbs, he got a whole new team. While she knew that what they had done in supporting Gibbs was risky to all of their careers, she had never imagined Vance would split their team so far and wide. Tony, she stopped packing at the thought of him. She had been battling with feeling for him for quite awhile now. When he had been with Jeanne, she had bit them down stuffing them deep within her stoic shell. During that time, she had even allowed herself feelings for someone else. She let out a mirthless laugh. It would figure that she would have feelings develop for someone on their deathbed. When Jeanne and Tony's relationship ended, she had allowed herself the faint glimmer of hope that maybe, someday something could come of her attraction to Tony. She had still kept it pushed down in respect for Tony's feelings for the past few weeks since his relationship ended figuring that she would have all the time in the world. Now, it was too late. She didn't know when she would see Tony again, if ever. On top of losing Jenny and partially blaming herself, being separated from Tony and the rest of the team seemed too much. She allowed a stray tear to wander down her face before angrily swiping it away. She couldn't allow herself to break down. There was nothing that her tears could solve. Her path was set. The only thing she could hope for now was that Gibbs would somehow be able to pull the team back together in the coming months.

Just then, she decided that she didn't want to leave without seeing Tony one last time. It would be purely friends saying goodbye to each other, or at least that's what she told herself. She found herself driving the semi-familiar route to Tony's apartment complex. She pulled into a spot and headed up the steps to his apartment and as she approached his door, she paused. What was she thinking? How would Tony react to finding her on his doorstep? She cursed herself for allowing herself the weakness of saying goodbye. He probably would find some other _girl_ to chase after once he settled in a bit. She was surprised at how much pain that made her feel. Looking at the door again, she did have to admit, she had driven all the way here. It couldn't make things too much worse by allowing herself to say goodbye, so she raised her hand and knocked. She heard him yell "wait a minute!" and then some shuffling before a slightly ruffled looking Tony Dinozzo answered the door wearing a loose t-shirt and some sweatpants. "Ziva!" his expression was surprised . She obviously had been correct in assuming that he wasn't expecting her. "Come in," he invited as he opened the door wider for her to enter. Ziva glanced around his apartment. Boxes were scattered everywhere. Shelves that were once full of various sports magazines and magazines of half naked beauties that for the most part would only appeal to men, were now empty, their contents packed into the various boxes throughout the apartment. Tony noticed her taking in her surroundings and mentioned "yeah, not all this will be able to accompany me on the Regan, so I am getting rid of some things and putting the rest of what I am not taking in a storage locker down the street. Rent there is quite a bit cheaper than here. I can only hope that Gibbs will be able to convince Vance to bring us back here to DC as a team again so that I can use this stuff again." Ziva nodded understanding his feelings completely. "Would you like anything to drink?" Tony questioned. "I have a few beers left in the fridge that I need to get rid of before clearing out of here tomorrow. Ziva nodded. "Sure. Thank-you." While she knew it probably wouldn't be a good idea to have alcohol flowing through her system, she in the same way desired something to dull the emotions of a long past few days. He came back with two bottles, one for her, one for himself. As he opened them and passed one to her, he questioned "So Ziva" he questioned, drawing out the first syllable of her name in that way she had become so familiar with in the past few months, "What brings you to my humble abode at this time of night? Shouldn't you be packing?" He motioned her towards the living room and invited her to sit down. She slowly sat down on the couch and took a moment before responding "I felt like saying…goodbye. I am going to miss you." He reached over from where he had sat beside her and ruffled her hair. It was true. She did like it when he did that. "Gibbs will get us back together. You know he won't let any other agents take our place." It's not going to be forever. She nodded and they allowed silence to fall over them as they sipped their beer.

As Tony finished his, he reached over and took her now empty bottle as well. He went back into the kitchen and grabbed another couple of bottles. He had sensed at least part of why Ziva had shown up on his doorstep. She needed to forget the past week, at least for a night. He felt that he needed the same thing in all honesty. He still blamed himself for Jenny's death. Had he done _something_ to keep an eye on her, she might not have been dead at this very moment. He knew deep down that everyone else was right, that he was just obeying orders, but that fact didn't make him feel any less awful about her death. Because of this whole mess, he would be separated from his team. It wouldn't be the same not hearing Ducky's rambling stories, or witnessing Palmer's awkward moments. He wouldn't have Abby's Caf-Pow! induced rambles to make him smile. He would miss teasing McGee. He knew the probie truly didn't mind too much, and his reactions made him smile. While they hurt he even thought he might miss Gibbs' infamous head-slaps and great leadership as his boss. He would trust that man to the end of the Earth and back. And last, but far from least, he would miss Ziva. She had become a good friend to him in the past two and a half years. He would miss her problems with the idioms of the English language. He would miss the way she would threaten him when he started messing with her too much. Her fierceness was what attracted him to her. True, he had been in love with Jeanne and had felt crushed when the truth had to come out. He felt horrible for leading her on. But even through all that, he had harbored feelings for the fierce Israeli woman in the desk across from him. Attraction, _that_ was a dangerous path to follow considering the object of his attraction was still sitting in his halfway packed living room. He quickly diverted his mind to a safer subject and joked as he came back into the room "Yeah, I even think I might miss Gibbs' head slaps." Ziva chuckled taking the beer he offered her. "Yes, I will miss the way Gibbs cuts people out of their rambling with just a stare. He is quite good at it." Tony nodded. With the silence barrier between them broken, memories from the past years started flowing out. Ziva at one point chuckled "Don't try shutting yourself into any shipping crates while I am not around. You may not get out without my help." Tony laughed, messed with her hair again and continued reminiscing.

After a number of hours , memories relived and beers later, both Tony and Ziva were quite tipsy if not outright drunk. Ziva, somewhere in her alcohol sodden mind knew that she really shouldn't have had so many beers, but she couldn't complain about her current position, and obviously neither could Tony. They had both stretched out across the couch and she now had her back against Tony's chest, using him as a cushion. She looked up at him laughing at something he had just said. The though just flew from her head however when she looked up and noticed how close Tony's face was to hers. The laughter died as she looked at his lips, to his eyes and back to his lips. She saw desire in his eyes, the same desire she was pretty sure was reflected in hers. Her mind was screaming at her to stop, but somewhere the alcohol had caused a block between mind and body because she was moving even closer to him. And then, his lips were on hers. All she knew was the feeling of him kissing her. After a few minutes, she shifted so that she was straddling his waist, and opened her mouth and allowed him to kiss her deeper. She moaned as his hands slipped under her shirt, exploring and discovering parts of her that had previously remained off limits to him. Suddenly, the block between mind and body seemed to break and she pulled away "We should stop." Tony nodded "We should." "I do not want to though." "Neither do I" Tony responded still catching his breath from their previous interaction. "Good," Ziva said as she brought her lips to his once again. All of a sudden Tony lifted her up and carried her into his room, all the while never breaking the kiss. He deposited her on his bed and proceeded to attempt to wipe every memory of the past week from both of their minds with intimate caresses and tender kisses.

The next morning, Ziva woke up and felt an arm possessively wrapped around her. She opened her eyes and not recognizing her surroundings, the pounding of her head not helping, she turned to look at the man holding her. Tony. All the memories of the week before leading up to last night came flooding back to her. _Shit, I never should have come here_ she thought. _This is going to mess things up between us for sure if we see each other again. I need to get out of here._ She quietly slipped out from under Tony's arm not awakening him, gathered her clothes off the floor and got dressed. She went into the kitchen and wrote him a note.

Dear Tony,

Thank-you for last night. I am going to miss you. Try to keep in touch.

Ziva.

She felt bad for leaving it at that, but didn't know how to write about what had happened between them, let alone talk about it, so she quietly slipped out the door, ignoring the pounding of her head and aching of her heart and drove back to apartment to finish packing before she departed back to Isreal, and away from all of those who she cared about here. This time as a stray tear fell down her cheek, she didn't wipe it away.


End file.
